Another Case Of Human Infection With MERS Coronavirus Reported In Jordan

4/24/2014 7:51 PM ET

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday the health ministry of Jordan has informed it of a new laboratory-confirmed case of human infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

The patient is a 25 year-old male from Al Grayat City in Saudi Arabia, who took ill on April 9 and was admitted to a hospital in Saudi Arabia on April 10. He, however, was discharged from the hospital on April 15, against medical advice.

As his condition did not improve, he sought medical care at another hospital in Zarka City, Jordan on April 19, and was tested positive for MERS-CoV. The patient has underlying medical conditions and has history of contact with camels and is also reported to have consumed camel milk.

From September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 254 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV globally, including 93 deaths.

Based on the current situation and available information, WHO urged all Member-States to continue their surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) and carefully review any unusual patterns. WHO stressed that recent travelers returning from the Middle East who develop SARI should be tested for MERS-CoV as advised in the current surveillance recommendations.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause a range of ailments from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which became an epidemic in 2003. The virus could be transmitted between people in close and prolonged contact. The sources of infection for the new coronavirus are still unclear.

The deadly Novel Coronavirus (NCoV) strain, recently renamed MERS-CoV, reflects the fact that most of the reported cases are from that region, mainly Saudi Arabia.

Nevertheless, France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom have also reported laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infections. Those patients were either transferred there for care of the disease or returned from the Middle East and subsequently became ill.